IF YOU WANT TO GO:
When: Thursday, April 14, 2011
Time: 6:00pm-8:00pm
Location: Wells Fargo Auditorium (located inside the Knight Theater) 430 S. Tryon
Cost: Free and open to the Public. RSVP is required. This event requires and entry ticket.
Acclaimed Yale University art historian will follow the track of obvious cultural influences from the kingdom of Kongo to the U.S. South, like the conga drum, the conga line and in southside Chicago, the congo grind. Thompson will look at the rich world of gesture in Kongo life and art and relate this to identical gestures with identical meanings in inner city life. He will show the impact of Kongo aesthetics on U.S. athletics, a transfer of ancestral dance genius to running backs and wide receivers in NFL football. Videos will be shown of Kongo dances in situ and two samples of the twist, in Kongo and under tutelage of Chubby Checker in the black USA and will trace the unbroken heritage of patting juba (dancing slapping thighs and chest) from Kongo Angola to northwestern Alabama. Come be part of this thought-provoking “Conversations at Gantt”.
For additional information for an entry ticket: www.ganttcenter.org
